The Sociology Graduation Recognition Ceremony will be held on Friday, May 8th at 2:00pm in the Brody Building auditorium on the medical campus. Brody Building is adjacent to the hospital (building #15 on the map below):

Guests coming from the University Commencement in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium will go left on Charles Boulevard as they depart the parking lot and then turn right onto Greenville Boulevard at the first light. Take the next right onto Arlington Boulevard (just after the Colonial Mall). Follow Arlington Boulevard for approximately 3 miles until you reach Stantonsburg Road. Turn right on Stantonsburg Road and then left on Moye Boulevard (in front of Vidant Medical Center). Follow Moye Boulevard around a wide curve and you will see the Brody Building on your left. Pass the building and turn left on North Campus Loop to access the parking lots (which will then be on your right). You may park in any of these lots (regardless of posted permit restrictions). Go in the front door of the building and attendants will direct you to the auditorium.

To utilize GPS, program your system to 600 Moye Boulevard, Greenville NC 27858

Graduating seniors should provide the office staff, in the Sociology department office, addressed envelopes for guests to whom they would like us to send a formal invitation. You may pick up department envelopes from the office and simply write the addresses on the envelopes. You should also complete a Personal Information Form and return it to the office as well. These were emailed out to all students and are also available in the Sociology Department office.

Individuals with questions about Sociology's Graduation Recognition Ceremony may call the Department Office at 252-328-6193.

GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING

ECU Sociology instructor and professional photographer Maria McDonald took her students on a tour of key landmarks on campus this Spring, taking photographs to share with students in India, Russia, and China. McDonald’s Global Understanding: Sociology course is linking with students in these countries, allowing ECU students to share their experiences living in the US and learn how that experience compares with that of students around the globe. The course is part of the Global Understanding curriculum on campus which links ECU students to students in over 30 countries. McDonald’s students enjoyed the chance to show their global partners the landmarks which they associate with their ECU experience. The photo tour culminated in a rare opportunity to walk onto the ECU stadium field – a treat for these hard-working students who dedicated their efforts to this early morning class!

Four Sociology faculty, ten graduate students, five undergraduate students and two Sociology alumni from the Sociology Department presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society (SSS) in New Orleans, LA. This year’s meeting theme is “Stalled Revolutions? Gender Inequality in the 21st Century.” Several ECU presenters will participate in paper, roundtable and poster sessions to discuss research focusing on gender inequality, including sexual assault. Others are presenting research on a broad range of topics including social impacts of the digital divide, mysogynoir, the impact of student volunteer work, NC’s environmental movement, and attitudes toward the Confederate flag. Students’ participation in the meetings is being funded by a combination of Sociology department, student government, and honors society funds.

LAKES-LINKING APPLIED KNOWLEDGE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Yanira Campos, a sophomore Sociology major, has received an NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergrads) summer internship. She will be working on the LAKES project at The University of Wisconsin-Stout. Yanira was selected out of hundreds of applicants from around the country. She will be working with Dr. Nels Paulson, a sociologist, who is "researching farmers' social networks, social capital, and land use practices." This is part of the larger, interdisciplinary project on Environmental Sustainability. You can follow the researcher's work on the LAKES blog website (http://lakes-reu.blogspot.com/).

DR. LESLIE HOSSFELD PRESENTATION: FOR REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT

The ECU Department of Sociology and its Center for Diversity and Inequality Research hosted Dr. Leslie Hossfeld on November 17th, 2014. If you were unable to attend you can find the presentation here.

Dr. Hossfeld is trained in Rural Sociology from North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She has extensive experience examining rural poverty and economic restructuring and has made two presentations to the United States Congress and also to the North Carolina Legislature on job loss and rural economic decline.

ECU ALUM PUBLISHES STUDY ON GENDER BIAS IN STUDENT EVALUATIONS

Student ratings of teaching play a significant role in career outcomes for higher education instructors. Although instructor gender has been shown to play an important role in influencing student ratings, the extent and nature of that role remains contested. While difficult to separate gender from teaching practices in person, it is possible to disguise an instructor's gender identity online. In this experiment, assistant instructors in an online class each operated under two different gender identities. Students rated the male identity significantly higher than the female identity, regardless of the instructor's actual gender, demonstrating gender bias.

Adam Driscoll is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He received his Master's degree in Sociology at East Carolina University and his Ph.D. in Sociology at North Carolina State University. His research and teaching focus upon the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture and effective online pedagogy.